coherent

/kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/

//kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"coherent" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“coherent” has 12 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,388. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#12,388
frequency rank, English
5,599
“C” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.

Corpus desk

Index EN-coherent · coherent · English

coherent · rank #12,388 · 12 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-MID #12,388
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,599
  • PHOTO-FINISH comfy

Nearest frequency peer: comfy (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “coherent”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “coherent” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

coherent vs coherence
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for coherent
PropertyValue
Headwordcoherent
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/
Letters8
Frequency rank#12,388
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “coherent”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).coherentlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “comfy” (#12,389), “chewing” (#12,386), “comrades” (#12,390). Among 5,599 “C” headwords, “coherent” is #12,388. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around coherent (IPA /kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #12,388 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for coherent, with forms such as "ccoherent", "choerent", and "coehrent". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "coherence", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle French coherent, from Latin cohaērēns, from co- + haereō. By surface analysis, cohere + -ent. The correct English form is coherent, spelled C-O-H-E-R-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.
  2. 2
    Orderly, logical and consistent.
  3. 3
    Aesthetically ordered.
  4. 4
    Having a natural or due agreement of parts; harmonious: a coherent design.
  5. 5
    Of waves having the same direction, wavelength and phase, as light in a laser.
  6. 6
    Attaching or pressing against an organ of the same nature.
  7. 7
    Belonging to a specific class of sheaves having particularly manageable properties closely linked to the geometrical properties of the underlying space. See Coherent sheaf on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  8. 8
    In a technical sense, determined by the (topology of) the subsets. Formally, Such that 𝒯 is the finest topology on T for which the inclusion maps ιₐ:C_a→T are continuous, where each C_a is considered with its subspace topology.
  9. 9
    Finitely generated and such that all finitely generated submodules are finitely presented.
  10. 10
    Such that every finitely generated (left) ideal is finitely presented.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how coherent appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. These people professed that the universe was one coherent thing; but they were not fond of the universe.
  2. A sentence like this one cannot be understood unless somehow we can store the underlined words for several seconds, while we wait for the rest of the sentence to arrive, with the information needed to complete a coherent thought.

Etymology

From Middle French coherent, from Latin cohaērēns, from co- + haereō. By surface analysis, cohere + -ent.

Antonyms

incoherent

This word in other languages

coherente(Español)cohérent(Français)kohärent(Deutsch)coerente(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccoherent
  • choerent
  • coehrent
  • coheernt
  • coherennt
  • coherentt
  • coheretn
  • cohernet
  • coherrent
  • cohherent
  • cohreent
  • ocherent

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of coherent - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ccoherent1choerent2coehrent2coheernt2coherennt1coherentt1coheretn2cohernet2
Edit distance from "coherent"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "coherent"?
"coherent" is spelled C-O-H-E-R-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is /kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/.
What does "coherent" mean?
As an adjective, "coherent" means: Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.
What words are commonly confused with "coherent"?
"coherent" is commonly confused with "coherence". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "coherent"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "coherent" is /kəʊˈhɪə.ɹənt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "coherent"?
From Middle French coherent, from Latin cohaērēns, from co- + haereō. By surface analysis, cohere + -ent. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "coherent", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

comrades#12,390conceded#12,391Buddhism#12,380dividing#12,408

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

assertion12 variantsevenings12 variantsgigantic12 variantshalftime12 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list